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Tony Blair’s earnings are £12m a year

As the stock market plummets and house pices slump, Tony Blair, the man who as Prime Minister championed the "light touch" system of financial regulation blamed by many for the current crisis, is enjoying an unprecedented boom in his fortunes. The Times reveals today that the former Prime Minister's earnings in his first year since leaving Downing Street topped £12 million, more than six times his previous lifetime income.

The lion's share of his income does not come from his various advisory jobs, but from the lucrative international lecture circuit where he is now said to be the highest-paid speaker in the world. Since his first gig last October, Blair is understood to have earned £5.3m, which is even more than Bill Clinton did in his first year after leaving the White House.

Blair, who works exclusively through the blue-chip Washington Speakers Bureau, is certainly popular – there is currently a two-year waiting list for bookings, with clients prepared to pay $250,000 for a typical speech of roughly 90 minutes.

In addition to his speaking dosh, Blair receives £84,000 of taxpayers' money to run a private office and is entitled to an annual pension of £63,468, but this pales into insignificance beside his private earnings. He has made £4.6 million from his memoirs, an estimated £2 million from JP Morgan Chase - including bonus - and £500,000 from Zurich Financial Services.

However, there is some consolation for his enemies. His property portfolio has taken a right old battering. His country home, South Pavilion Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire, which he bought for £4 million in May, is said to have fallen 3.1 per cent to £3.76 million.